Gaming device manufactures have long provided gaming machines employing a plurality of reels, wherein the reels each have a plurality of symbols. In the 1930's, gaming device manufacturers provided a three reel gaming device, wherein each reel had ten stops, which produced a thousand combinations. One way for the manufacturers to increase the number of combinations was to increase the size of the reel and to add more stops. During the next four decades, the reels in the gaming devices increased to twenty stops. In the 1970's, manufacturers developed a twenty-two stop reel machine, in the early 80's a twenty-five stop reel machine, and in 1985, IGT, the assignee of the present invention, developed a thirty-two stop reel machine. This three-reel machine had 32,768 possible combinations.
Another way manufacturers increased the number of combinations was to add reels. In 1955, a manufacturer produced a four-reel slot machine, which increased the number of combinations on a twenty stop machine to 160,000. In the middle 1970's, a manufacturer produced the first five-reel slot machine, which had twenty-two stop reels and produced combinations in excess of five million.
The next advancement in the effort to produce more payout combinations was the video or CRT screen slot machine, wherein the reels were simulated as opposed to mechanical. Video slot machines do not have mechanical drums or reels which rotate, do not need to precisely stop the same at certain positions and are therefore not limited by a maximum allowable drum radius. Each reel can have an unlimited number of stops. Initially, the Nevada gaming Commission limited the stops on the video machines (e.g., 84 stops on a three reel machine) but has since removed the limit. In 1989, a particular video reel machine employed reels having hundreds of stops and more than 10 million combinations.
The total number of combinations affects the percentage of time that a player will obtain a particular winning combination as well as the overall payout percentage of the machine. For example, a three reel machine having twenty-two stops per reel, wherein the first reel has two oranges, the second reel has three oranges, and the third reel has seven oranges will yield an orange, orange and orange combination 42 times in every 10,648 plays (22×22×22) or 0.39% of the time. If the orange, orange, orange combination pays 20 coins, then the total coins paid is 20×42 or 840 coins in every 10,648 plays. Adding the total coins paid for each winning combination and dividing that number by 10,648 yields the machine's total payout percentage.
It should be appreciated that in the known gaming systems, the percentage of obtaining a winning combination is predetermined. In certain known progressive gaming machines, the payout of a grand prize grows each time a player plays the machine. The increasing payout increases the total coins paid as determined above, which in turn increases the overall payout percentage. Nevertheless, the percentage of times that a player will receive one of the combinations remains constant.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, it is desirable to provide players with new types of gaming devices that attract the player and keep the player entertained. One way to hold a player's interest is to vest the player with the ability to affect the determination of the outcome. That is, to give the player a stake or “say so” in the manner in which the gaming device determines the player's outcome. Certain known gaming devices have bonus rounds, wherein a player selects the player's own fate. For example, European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a gaming device having a bonus round, wherein a player chooses a masked symbol from a pattern of symbols, and the gaming device removes the mask and either awards the player with a bonus value or terminates the bonus round with a bonus terminator. The player chooses until selecting a bonus terminator. However, known gaming devices have yet to add similar player selectivity to the base game or reel operation of the gaming device.